Friday, May 19, 2006

Medical Ethics!

NUIG.. in front of Quadrangle..


I was cleaning my room.. and I found some of my Medical Ethics notes.. and I always find this one interesting.. here goes..

Say.. a group of patients come in to the casualty, all kena patuk ular.. and you just have ONE dose of antivenom left.. and this ONE dose can only save ONE patient... so.. who would you save?

Group 1
Two unknowns (half dose each) OR
Professor of Surgery (whole dose) OR
The boss's daughter (whole dose) OR
Your mother(whole dose)

Group 2
Two convicted paedophiles (half dose) OR
One obnoxious drunk (whole dose) OR
A pleasant peace campaigner (whole dose)
Group 3
Two elderly women (half dose) OR
Two elderly men (half dose) OR
Two young mothers (half dose) OR
One young mother (whole dose)

Group 4
Two young mothers (half dose) OR
Your mother (whole dose)

So.. what choice would u make in the above cases? Second Q, why have you made the choices that you have and are they consistent with each other?

Two moral theories:
Consequentialism: An action is right if, and only if, it produces the best available consequences (An agent-neutral theory)

Deontology: An action is right if it conforms to a cetain set of moral rules. The right action is not always the one that produces the best consequences (An agent-relative theory)

Further Qs:

Is there a difference between doing something and allowing it to happen? If there is a difference, is it morally relevant?

Can a credible distinction be made between intended and foreseen consequences? Is intentional killing always wrong?

I hope I dont have to come across these situations in the future.. but then again.. you never know.... sucks man... ah well!
 
posted by Mel at 12:46 PM, |

2 Comments:

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  At 12:13 PM Blogger Stacey said:
My mummy will get the antivenom - sorry but I'm selfish like that.. What a horrible situation to be in though..
  At 7:04 PM Blogger Mel said:
stOOsi: Hmm.. I wish life is that simple.. but I do hope I wont come across such situation in the future..

afza: Yeah.. I took that myself.. tengah nak berjinak2 ngan my new baby :-)


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